Shakespeare's "what's in a name?"
(as immortalized in Juliet's famous speech) can be applied to headlines, too.
What's in a headline or article title often reveals the whole philosophy or worldview
of the publication, or at least of the headline writer. Headline writing is one
of the most prized arts of the journalist's trade. I learned it at the elbow of
Nanty Glo Journal editor Andy Rogalski in 1962. Most journalism students
probably learn it while working on the school or departmental newspaper, but not
all who go through the j-schools get to work on those papers (I wrote for the
Pitt Panther at JCP but was never in on the production side of the paper,
even though I've been in publications production for the rest of my adult life).
Those who don't get to work on production for such papers or lack an Andy Rogalski
to guide them may never learn the art.

The
art is in: 1. filling the space allotted for the headline (being neither too
long nor too short) 2. distilling the gist of the article in the words that
fit 3. capturing the kernel of the story rather than just what may appear
in the first sentence or paragraph 4. being allusive or enticing (suggesting
more than the bare bones) 5. being cute or humorous when appropriate, without
being "precious."

For some years
I subscribed to both San Francisco and San Jose daily newspapers. Both usually
covered for the most part the same news. But I read far more articles in the San
Francisco Chronicle than the San Jose daily because the Chronicle
had far more enticing headlines. Most of the articles about national and world
news in our daily newspapers come from the Associated Press, which most daily
newspapers belong to and use. The editors of the papers are free to edit whatever
comes over the "wire," but for the most part only the headlines consistently
get the personal touch, and that's probably not by the same person who edits the
city and metro news but by a specialized headline editor or layout editor or,
more commonly, a combination of the two roles. Writing the headlines is the main
way newspapers influence the world and national news or, more accurately, the
way it's received by readers.

I was inspired
to take up this topic by two headlines touting the same story in Wednesday's online
news portals. These strongly suggest the politics of the respective publications:
"Bush: Let religious groups get U.S. funds" one paper declares, which
seems like an anti-administration way of presenting the story. "President
encourages religion-based program, welfare overhaul," from another medium,
much more closely approximates what the Bush team want to project. The first suggests
government support for churches, which most people are at least leery about. The
second suggests that by helping religious people involved in charitable works
reach more people with more help, we can stretch the effective tax dollars available
for social programs. In other words, this is asking the "church" to
help the government provide for social welfare, which it already does. Most of
us probably think that religious people involved in such projects are more dedicated
and give value added to the task, compared with professional welfare workers.

Can
headlines on such stories be fair and unbiased? Ah, there's the rub. Because of
their brevity, headlines are hard pressed to tell one side of a story, much less
both. But their writers can work for balance, something none of the big media
I surveyed on the recent school voucher decision from the Supreme Court even attempted.
Even the stories, which have no size constraints, were totally one-sided on that
issue. But that's getting into a new topic.

—Webmaster
Jon Kennedy

Dumb crooks

A
33-year-old man was arrested recently in Providence, R.I., after allegedly
knocking out an armored car driver and stealing the closest four bags of
money. It turned out they contained $800 in pennies, weighed 30 pounds
each, and slowed him to a stagger during his getaway so that police officers easily
jumped him from behind..

—
Sent by Mike Harrison

Thought for today

I
N S T R U C T I O N S F O R L I F E . . . (last in series)

16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before. 17. Remember that
the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need
for each other.18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order
to get it. 19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon .

—Sent by Mary
Ann Losiewcz

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